Military officials question fortifications at site where US troops died in Iranian attack

The first American service members to die in the US-Israel war with Iran were killed in an apparent Iranian drone attack on a makeshift office space in Kuwait, three U.S. military officials with direct knowledge of the Iranian attack told News themezone.

At least six Americans were delicate in an attack on a tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait, one of several US-allied countries in the Persian Gulf region that have faced intense Iranian missile and drone attacks since the US and Israel began attacking Iran on Saturday morning. US Central Command has publicly confirmed the deaths.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the deadly attack was caused by a powerful Iranian weapon that penetrated both air defenses and operations center fortifications.

“There are air defenses, and a lot of things are coming, and most of it is hit,” Hegseth said during a news conference at the Pentagon. “Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately we call it a squirter, that makes it through. And in that particular case, it hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.”

But the three American military officials disputed the claim that the building was adequately fortified. They told News themezone that the operations center was a triple-wide trailer converted into office space, a common configuration at U.S. bases abroad.

The trailer’s only fortifications were T-walls, which are 12-foot-high steel-reinforced concrete barriers used to protect military personnel from explosions, rocket attacks and shrapnel, military officials said.

But the T-shaped walls could not protect the facility from an aerial impact. Two officials told News themezone that the blow appeared to hit the center of the building.

Three officials also told News themezone, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, that before the attack, there were discussions on the ground about whether the tactical operations center in question should not have been used because it concentrated too many American troops in a location that was not defensible.

Preliminary assessments of battle damage suggest that the operations center in Kuwait was attacked by a unidirectional drone, according to three US military officials with direct knowledge of the Iranian attack. Iran often uses Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones.

Fire engulfed buildings, making it difficult to recover bodies immediately after the strike, officials told News themezone.

Two of the three sources told News themezone that they did not recall hearing the warning sirens commonly associated with counterbattery systems designed to detect incoming enemy munitions that ultimately killed service members. They also said the warning siren had been operating all week before the attack at the tactical operations center, but in previous incidents, some of the drones were already inside the base before the siren sounded.

Additionally, two sources said there were no US counter-rocket, artillery and mortar systems at Shuaiba port that could be used to shoot down incoming drones or other deadly munitions. Kuwait had interceptors nearby, but it is unclear if they were used.

Requests were made for more capabilities to defeat the incoming drones, but those additional resources never arrived, the two sources said. A source told News themezone: “We basically had no ability to defeat the drones.”

“I’m sorry for their families’ losses,” one of the sources told News themezone. “They were nice people who did what their nation asked of them.”

CNN first reported on the six service members killed at the port of Shuaiba who apparently received no prior warning. News themezone is the first to report the type of artillery that hit the operations center, and that some US troops feel the center’s defenses were inadequate and perhaps that the established operations center should not have been used at all.

When asked for comment, the Pentagon referred News themezone to previous statements from US Central Command regarding the deceased service members.

In addition to the six who died in Kuwait, at least 18 service members had been seriously wounded as of Monday morning in the combat operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson told News themezone.

Hegseth called the service members who were killed “America’s finest.”

“May we process the rest of this operation in a way that honors them,” he said.